5786/2025
After Yosef’s goblet is found in Binyamin’s bag, Binyamin is set to become Yosef’s slave. Yehuda, however, steps forward and pleads with Yosef, asking him not to take Binyamin alone, arguing that they are all equally guilty. In the final Pasuk of this week’s parsha, Yosef responds: “VaYomar Chalila Li MeAsot Zot HaEish Asher Nimtzah HaGavi’a BeYado Hu Yiheiye Li Eved Ve’Atem Alu L’Shalom Al Avichem,” “It would be a disgrace for me to do that! The one in whose possession the goblet was found will be my slave, and the rest of you will go up in peace to your father” (BeReishit 44:17) Yosef’s response seems odd. Why would he refuse to take his brothers as slaves, especially when they themselves offer? After all, they had done so many terrible things to him such as, throwing him into the pit, leading to Potiphar’s house, prison, with many challenges along the way. One might expect Yosef to resent them, but he declines their offer defensively.
The simple explanation comes from the Rabbeinu Bachya who states that according to Egyptian law, a man could not be arrested or enslaved unless he was directly known to be involved in a crime. Since only Binyamin was caught the one with the goblet, only he could legally be taken as a slave. Yosef, being an honest person and a man who abides by the law, declined this offer without hesitation. But this raises another question: If Yosef cared so much about Egyptian law, why did he plant the cup in Binyamin’s bag in the first place?
The deeper answer, according to Seforno, is as follows. Yosef recognized that his brothers were genuinely seeking punishment as a form of atonement for selling him into the pit. But as the Pasuk in Shmuel Aleph 24:14 teaches, “MeRisha’im Yatzah Risha, ” “only a wicked person can deliver wicked punishment.” Yosef, being the Tzaddik that he is, could not be the one to carry out their punishment. That is why he tells them to go home “in peace” to their father. The act of pleading to accept punishment for their past sins already fulfills part of their teshuva, they are now able to go up to shamayim and face Hashem in peace.
So when did they accomplish a full teshuva? Hundreds of years later, ten great tzaddikim, known as the Asarah Harugei Malchut, were killed by the Romans. This, according to the Seforno, works according to the idea of “wicked punish the wicked.” The Midrash in Pirkei Heichalot tells us what truly happened. A decree came from Rome to kill 10 great Rabbis. Many Jews offered to kill themselves instead, and an angel revealed that these ten Tzaddikim had been destined to complete the punishment for the brothers’ sale of Yosef. Their deaths completed the brothers Teshuvah process.
There is a huge lesson to learn from this: the Shevatim were determined to do teshuva themselves as soon as they could. They didn’t want to go up to Shamayim and make excuses, they had a mission to be pure, good people as clean of sins as they could be. They understood it was a mistake and were not gonna let it happen again. Often, we doubt the Shevatim's greatness because we focus on their sins. But a true Tzaddik is defined by the way he gets up. When a tzaddik sins, he takes credit and rushes to do teshuva, That is exactly what the brothers did. Hashem appreciated their teshuva effort so much that even though they were not Zocheh to complete a full teshuva in this world, Hashem made sure they were in the next.